here to provide uh verified information regarding [bell] critical incident Fort Smith police officers that occurred in Bowling Fort Smith police officers early this morning near the amphitheater off of Clover Drive. Um at approximately 1:23 a.m. Fort Smith off- police officers were investigating a group of juveniles in the park area when officers observed a white pickup truck drive into a ditch nearby. Officer Kyle Newman approached the vehicle to check on the driver while another remained with the juveniles and several parents who had arrived at the scene to take custody of their children. During the contact, Officer Newman approached the white truck and began a driving began a driving while intoxicated investigation involving the driver identified as 27-year-old Joshua Keller of Fort Smith. At one point during the encounter, Keller became argumentative, re-entered the vehicle, and attempted to flee. As Officer Newman attempted to detain him outside the vehicle, Keller produced a handgun and shot Officer Newman in the neck. Officer Newman returned fire as he fell to the ground. The other officer present at the time responded immediately after hearing gunfire. Broadcast that shots had He broadcast that shots had been fired and fired at the fleeing vehicle, and then began rendering aid to Officer Newman while additional officers responded to the area. Suspect fled the scene in the pickup truck, leading officers on the Interstate 540. The pursuit ended after the suspect vehicle crashed near the Grand Avenue exit. As officers approached the vehicle following the crash, an addition an additional officer-involved shooting occurred. The suspect, Joshua Keller, was pronounced deceased at the scene. A handgun was recovered from inside the vehicle. Officer Newman was transported by EMS and later airlifted to a local trauma center where he remains in critical condition. This remains an active and ongoing investigation. The Arkansas State Police has been requested to investigate the officer-involved shooting connected to the pursuit and crash scene. The Fort Smith Police Department Criminal Investigations Division is leading the investigation on McClure Drive. At this time, certain investigative details cannot be released in order to protect the integrity of the investigation and ensure accuracy. We ask that our community, all the communities who have heard about this, to keep Officer Newman, his family, and all involved personnel in their thoughts and prayers. At this time, I would like to yield to the Chief Baker and he has a statement. Thank you, Eric. Thank you all for being here this afternoon. As you might imagine, this has been an extremely difficult and emotional night for our department. Officer Kyle Newman is fighting for his life today because he responded to protect this community and was confronted with an armed individual who chose violence. I want to be very clear. The actions of our officers overnight prevented a dangerous suspect from escaping into our community and potentially causing even greater harm. The courage shown by Officer Newman, the responding officers, the dispatchers, the EMS personnel, and our partner agencies was extraordinary. Even after suffering a catastrophic injury, Officer Newman continued fighting and attempting to stop the threat that he was facing. That speaks directly to his bravery and to his commitment. We're grateful to the Fort Smith Fire Department, Fort Smith EMS, the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office, Arkansas State Police, Pafford Air, and the medical teams who worked tirelessly to save Officer Newman's life. Right now, our focus is on supporting Officer Newman and his family while ensuring a complete and transparent investigation takes place. The public has the right and should expect a thorough thorough review of every aspect of this incident. But, please be patient with us. If we must choose between being fast and being accurate in our investigations, we'll choose accuracy every time. This community has already shown tremendous support. We're deeply thankful for the prayers, the messages, the assistance that we have received from across this state and Oklahoma. Please continue praying for Officer Newman, for his family, for everyone affected by this incident. None of us are immune from the emotional trauma that this type kind of thing causes. We sincerely appreciate your care and your concern. At this time, I'd like to turn the microphone over to uh Lieutenant Pierce with Arkansas State Police. Thank you, Chief. My name's Bill Pierce and I'm with the Arkansas State Police. The early hours of this morning, we were requested by the Fort Smith Police Department to respond to an officer-involved shooting that happened on I-540 at the overpass of Grand Ave. Myself and agents arrived on the scene, conducted a thorough investigation. We did that investigation and turned it over to the prosecutor. I can't give you any other information until I obtain that information that Um we try to uh be as open with this as we can right now given this status of investigation. So, there may be some things that we can't really answer right now, but I do want to uh open it up for some questions um and we'll do our best to uh respond. You were saying that the officer is fighting for his life right now. Can you tell us any more about his condition? Has he gone through surgery? Has he been able to talk? Uh we We're not going to talk too much about his medical condition, but he is still in critical condition. I don't believe that we've uh got any response from him. Uh we're hopeful that that he is improving, uh but he's he's still very much in danger. Can you tell us a little bit about his work history with the FPD? How long he's been here? Uh he's been with the Fort Smith Police Department just a little bit over a year. He went through the academy here and Yes, yes he did. Um What uh killer, what is his history? Do you guys know anything about him? Does he have a criminal history? I have not been made aware of a criminal history. I don't know that he has significant history with the police department. I really can't comment on a bunch of that. That's still part of the investigation. And and and just wanted to ask you whenever officers were there on uh 5400 Grand, um can you share with us what happened whenever they opened fire on the suspect um to cause them to to do that? No, ma'am. That that's part of the investigation that the state police is who involved with. So, >> [snorts] >> I can't I can't speak on that investigation. Can you share a little bit more about Officer Newman as a person? He does and again I don't want to get too much into his personal life at this time. His His family is with him and we want to respect their their privacy but he is a family man. He is a veteran. He's a very good officer. I'm very proud of the work that he's done and hope that he will continue to do. If the community wants to reach out to you guys just to offer their thoughts, their prayers, just to leave messages for you guys, where can they do that? We would be happy to have them call us, email us, info@fortsmithpd.org would make sure that that it got to us where we can get it to the family and the officers. Our Facebook page and if social media is the way that they would like to do that, leave leave a message there would be good as well. Were there any other agencies involved on the shooting at the lower past? I don't I don't know that. I think that's all I got. Thank you all for coming and the details of what we did lay out for what happened this morning.